• There has been nothing but praise for Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles since he abruptly resigned as Britain's special envoy to Afghanistan, and rightly so. While others mouthed platitudes about the western war effort and the issue of talking to the Taliban, Cowper-Coles made sense. So the end of his diplomatic career is our loss; but could it have been avoided? Very possibly. For there was already discussion of what role he might next take in the service of Her Majesty. After the privations of Kabul, a spell as our man in Paris seemed an amenable prospect: a view that seemed to be shared by the one-time permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office, now Cameroonie adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts. But the world turns, administrations change, and soon it became apparent in the Foreign Office that Ricketts himself was being lined up for the Paris posting. He is believed to be a frequent traveller to Normandy. And no chance of a move to Washington for Cowper-Coles. That seat's pencilled in for Sir Peter Westmacott, currently our man in Paris. And so off went Cowper-Coles, who is now free to write his memoirs and to tour the media, highlighting our deficiencies in Afghanistan and the general air of shambles. All things come to an end it is true, but it need never have come to this.

• High jinks among Labour types on Wednesday as Rachel Reeves and Emma Reynolds – MPs from the new intake – held a fundraiser in a restaurant in south-east London. There was an auction, and one unannounced lot attracted particular attention: a picture of Eva Herzigova in her Wonderbra advert with the slogan "Hello Boys". Harriet Harman, who had signed a copy of the equality act for a lot in the same auction, was said to have been willing to sign that picture too. And it was her night in many respects, for Harriet also made a quip about Reynolds looking better in high-heeled shoes than her party colleague Ken Purchase. She may be right. It's a matter of personal choice.

• And we suffer the usual angry exchanges in the Commons as speaker John Bercow struggles to stop the personal attacks and ill-humoured politicking. In the Lords, meanwhile, there's all the cut and thrust of an evening at Dingley Dell. I look daily at the website for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said Baroness Smith of Basildon. "That is very gratifying, because I do not," said the undersecretary of state, Lord Marland. "Perhaps she would not mind telling me about the changes that are going on at the moment." More whimsy as he turns to another foe on the Labour benches, the former city minister Lord Myners. "I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord, whom I much enjoy bumping into on the street every now and then," says the minister. "I hope that his dog is fine."

• Marland is interesting, Myners more so. The website TheyWorkForYou reveals that he "has used three-word alliterative phrases (eg 'she sells seashells') 381 times in debates – well above average amongst Lords," it says.

• High excitement at the UN in New York, where officials grapple daily with the most pressing issues: Sudan, Haiti and, closer to home, bed bugs in the UN building itself. Fumigators have already chased the varmints from the studios of the BBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK, but they prove resilient. Now they have pitched up in premises used by satellite channel al-Jazeera. There are demands for the chemical fumigation of the entire second floor, but that does seem a little over-elaborate. Have Andrew "Voldemort" Lansley tour the building, is our advice. The bugs will soon run away.

• Finally, as George Osborne prepares to throw money at the Irish economy, does he rue what he wrote in the Times in 2006? "The new global economy poses real long-term challenges to Britain, but also real opportunities for us to prosper and succeed. In Ireland they understand this," wrote the would-be chancellor. "They have freed their markets, developed the skills of their workforce, encouraged enterprise and innovation and created a dynamic economy. They have much to teach us, if only we are willing to learn." He might yet learn to repent.